The Starfish Story
by Maerd7733SCAIP
Summary: I was reading an Oriental Trading magazine a few days ago...this just popped into my devious little mind. R&R!


**A/N: Hey guys! I was looking through an Oriental Trading magazine a few days ago and I saw something in there that was really cute. So this is my little variation of the Starfish Story, staring Toph and Teo! I just love these two together!**

Toph felt her way along the beach, grumbling to herself with every grain of sand. She hated sand; she hated it, she hated it, she hated it...

She stubbed her toe on something. She bent down to pick it up and found it was one of the strange creatures they called a starfish. She ran her hands along it, memorizing its shape. She idly wondered if that was what the stars in the sky looked like. She shrugged and started to put it back on the sand.

Something squeaked next to her and a warm hand covered hers. She got an image of tousled hair with goggles shoved roughly on his forehead and a squeaky chaircart.

"Hey, Teo," she said, glad of the boy's company. It still slightly disgusted her how people from the Earth Kingdom could get so comfortable in the air, but after talking to the boy-why was everyone insistent on leaving the two of them together?-she had grown to respect him and even like him a little. He was pretty cool.

"Were you gonna put the starfish back on the sand?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she shrugged.

He gently took it from her hand and she heard a loud splash.

"What happened?" She asked with interest.

"I threw it back in," he told her.

Toph furrowed her brows in confusion.

"C'mon," Teo said. "Walk with me for a bit," Then he chuckled. "No pun intended,"

She followed the sounds of his chaircart, a little confused. Why had Teo thrown the starfish back into the water?

Teo stopped his chair as he saw another starfish. He bent down as far as he could and managed to pick it up. He turned his head to face Toph.

He didn't feel as awkward around Toph as he did around the other girls that had come with Aang to the temple. He overall admired her-she was teaching the Avatar earthbending and she had invented metalbending. She was the only girl he felt he could really relate to, though he didn't know why.

He tossed the starfish back into the waves.

"What happened?" Toph asked again.

It was his time to furrow his brow in confusion. Why did she always ask that, as if she couldn't see what was happening?

"I threw another starfish back in," he told her.

She cocked her head. Her overgrown bangs flopped limply in front of her milky-green eyes and she impatiently brushed them out of her face. He chuckled; she frowned. He frowned. He had never seen her smile.

"Toph?" he asked suddenly.

"Mmm?" she asked, looking at the ground.

"Can you see anything through your bangs?" he asked.

She stiffened. "No," she said quietly.

He grinned and rolled his chaircart closer to her. "Then maybe you should do something with them," With a swift tug, he pulled her headband out of her hair.

He watched in awe as thick, onyx, waist-long curls fell down to her shoulders. She didn't really have bangs, he discovered, she had just pulled the ends of her hair through her headband.

She glared at him. "Thanks, Goggles," she said sarcastically.

"You have nice hair," he said in awe. "How come you haven't let it down before?"

She shrugged. "Gets in the way,"

He nodded and continued wheeling down the path. He stopped and picked up another starfish. He threw it in the ocean with perfect accuracy. He saw Toph open her mouth.

"I threw another starfish in," Suddenly, it hit him. "You can't see, can you? You're blind."

"Congratulations," she said sarcastically. "He's a rocket scientist."

He made a face at her. "Well, you don't have to be so grumpy about it!"

She seemed shocked into silence. He looked at her and saw her hurt expression. Immediately, he felt bad for her.

"Hey," he said softly. "I didn't mean to-" he stopped as a strange sound filled the air. He looked at Toph and saw, with shock, she was smiling. Beyond that, she was laughing!

"You-" she punched him on the shoulder. "You're pretty cool, kid."

He grinned. "I'm hardly a kid!" he protested. "I'm thirteen!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? You seem a lot older than that!"

"Like what?" he asked.

They resumed their walking. "Like, fifteen, sixteen!"

"Nope! I'm thirteen, thank you very much."

"I'm going to be thirteen."

Toph's quiet statement threw him off. "Well, when's your birthday?" he stammered.

"Today," she answered even more quietly.

He reached up and took her hand. "Happy birthday," he said warmly.

She smiled again. "Thanks,"

He reached down and picked up another starfish. He raised his hand to throw it in, when Toph's white hand covered his.

"Teo, wait."

He waited.

"I've been walking with you for over an hour," she said. "And every time you see a starfish, you throw it back in. What difference does it make? You can't throw in every single starfish on the beach-there are millions!"

He remained silent, tossing the starfish back to the safety of the waves. "It makes a difference to that one."


End file.
